DEATH OF A PEOPLE

In this work of revisionist historical fiction set in 12th-century France, the Catholic Church pursues members of a Christian religious sect that adheres to purported teachings of Mary Magdalene.

Zastrais a 17-year-old girl from Limoux in Southern France, and she and her mother, Chloe, are “practitioners of the healing arts.” They are also devout members of a Christian group called the Cathars, which doubts the divinity of Christ, repudiates the Trinity, considers John the Baptist to be superior to Jesus, and follows teachings that were allegedly taught by Mary Magdalene, their “resident saint,” after the resurrection of Jesus. All of these doctrinally unconventional beliefs place them in the crosshairs of a Catholic Church that is relentlessly intolerant of dissent and considers the Cathars to be heretics. Zastra is repeatedly harassed by a lecherous man named Osric; he’s the stepson of the ailing Lord Alphonso, a powerful nobleman, and he stalks the girl “like a hyena, waiting for her to be separated from the pack.” Zastra and Chloe turn to Countess Esclarmonde de Foix, a well-known and influential Cathar, for help, but although her assistance does effectively get Osric out of the picture, it also results in the imprisonment of both Zastra and Chloe, who become Lord Alphonso’s personal healers. Chloe eventually starts a torrid romance with the nobleman, and she finally falls in love with him. It’s a tryst that, if discovered by Alphonso’s embittered wife, Fulgencia, or anyone else, could spell disaster for both her and her daughter.

Over the course of this book, Malmed vividly brings the precarious lives of the Cathars to life, and he effectively explains the sect’s emphasis on empowered women: “The Hebrew bible has many wonderful women whom you ignore: Ruth, Deborah, Moses’ wife, Zipporah, many,” Chloe explains to Alfonso at one point. “Yet you Catholics hold us women in low regard and your priests never speak of the Hebrew women.” The author not only deftly limns Cathar beliefs, but also describes, with a tantalizing sense of plausibility, the manner in which those beliefs were birthed by a proselytizing Mary Magdalene in Languedoc after she escaped capture by the Romans. In place of a more patriarchal church, the Cathars not only embrace the feminine aspect of the soul, but also advocate for true peace and love. However, Malmed furnishes more than just academic fodder for contemplation; he also constructs a moving, dramatic tale of vulnerable love. Chloe’s romantic feelings for Alfonso, in particular, are depicted rhapsodically: “As he was finishing something that sounded like the beginning of a declaration of love, he pulled her to him and kissed her full on the lips. She did not resist. She felt stirrings throughout her body. Was she some helpless young girl feeling things for first time?” Thankfully, the author resists the temptation to take a polemical direction and lecture readers about misogynistic tendencies of the Catholic Church. Instead, Malmed lets the story unfold without providing excessively moralistic commentary.

An affecting tale of love and theology.